17 November 2012

Sepia Saturday 152: Occupational Hazards

An occupational hazard is "any condition of a job that can result in
illness or injury." Occupations that befuddle ancestral trails lead to
prolonged periods of disorientation and malaise - an occupational hazard
of doing genealogical research. The cures are as varied as our
ancestors' professions.
I've come to love my farmers for their ties to the land. As the
family grows the land divides or nearby farms are purchased. Any moves tend to be
along established migration routes; the farmers' travels documented
by land records.

Perennial movers
have me hitting the books. These are the sailors, train engineers,
military men, traveling salesmen, ministers and even a few
professionals. Anyone who has lived near an IBM facility knows the
alternate meaning of those three initials - "I've Been Moved." Perennial
movers might be found with a diligent study of sailing or train routes,
military or church records, even company addresses.

Among
the more difficult to track are those whose goods or services have
limited demand: blacksmiths, plumbers, weavers and more. In large
cities, there was enough work for a father and his sons to work
side-by-side. Not so in rural areas. Once training was complete, sons
dispersed with no more pattern than a random scatter plot.

Asa Ashton Manchester (1870-1934), photographer unknown

Asa Manchester (1870-1934) followed in his father's footsteps and became a copper smith applying his smithing skills as a plumber in Dayton, Ohio. Asa ultimately became Director of the Ohio State Bureau of Plumbing Inspectors precipitating his move to Columbus, Ohio. All of Asa's brothers were employed in the metal working industry in the 1890s and all but Asa and George remained in Dayton. Metal working skills were in high demand by National Cash Register (NCR) and the growing plumbing industry.

Asa's Grandfather and Grand Uncle were also copper smiths. Brothers, John and Richard, were plying their craft in the thriving steamboat building foundries of Cincinnati in the mid-1800s. When they left the Queen City for the rich farm land in west central Ohio, Richard became a farmer and ultimately followed the traditional migration trails west. Simple.

Not so with my ancestor, John. John trained his sons as copper smiths. When the small town could not support them all, the sons migrated to a scatter plot of locations near and far. George returned to Cincinnati; John moved to St. Louis; and Richard made his way to Dayton, Ohio.

Three families of metal workers, Asa - Richard - John took me on a journey from Columbus to Dayton to Piqua to Cincinnati in Ohio; Oklahoma City; Dayton Twp, Iowa; Manchester, England and places in between. Without census records and city directories, their whereabouts and stories might have remained a mystery.This is a rather circuitous route to the Sepia Saturdaytheme beginning with boys studying books, reminding me of my favorite photo of a studious Asa, reminding me of reading censuses and directories, taking me full circle back to the Sepia Saturday 152 theme. Though I doubt the boys were reading city directories or census records! Read more inspired by the photo below at Sepia Saturday 152.

24 comments:

You have given me a lot to think about. My family were farmers, farmers, farmers all day long. The big move out of that profession came when the railroad came to Shenandoah. Finally! A different profession to contemplate. I had very few trades people, but now I'm going to check on them to see if sons followed in their footsteps.

Isn't it funny how sons followed their fathers professionally? All my paternal ancestors were civil engineers...going back six generations, for crying out loud! So when my brother jumped the rails and became a teacher, everybody was astounded! Very interesting post!

It seems my father and his family had all been saddlers and harness makers. Not surprisingly we, his 20th century children,not as use of the horse had diminished dramatically. We scattered far and wide while earlier generations had stayed put in a tight geographical area. I never saw my parents read a book but I was hooked from an early age.I'd be interested in your Manchester, England connection.

Not the picture one expects of a copper smith. Was this photo of him in his office as the director of plumbing inspectors? He does look studious. Too bad the picture stops just short of more information on the calendar at the top. You gave me a lot to think about as I trace my migrating farmers and coal miners. I grew up being transferred by Sears from place to place.

I love this photo of Asa in his office. I spent a couple of summers "clerking" for my father, a lawyer - I did property searches though huge old books with paper thin sheets, records of deed after deed. It was kind of like a game...finding links and running them down. I imagine now it's all done with a couple of search words in minutes - much more practical but some of the fun of the detective work is lost.

That's a great photo. Finding out the occupations of our ancestors is truly interesting. I found out that my paternal great-grandfather was a tin-smith in Sweden before he immigrated to the United States. Fascinating stuff!

The picture of Asa in his office is super! He radiates the quiet intelligence of a university professor. My paternal grandfather was a civil servant, my father was a civil servant (and so were his brothers) and I was a civil servant but for a very, very short period only. I was a customs inspector for a year and a half before I joined an airline. So I have to admit I broke the chain...

That is a very dignified photo of Asa. I can relate to your lead-in on occupational hazards, as tracing those census records can definitely lead to headaches. Sometimes with smaller towns I learn a lot by exploring the census pages for the kinds of workers. Some census takers were very thorough about recording the business and type of work. That really helps when searching the city directories.

How can you cram so much interest, so much history, such a perfect picture of what family history research is like, into so few short paragraphs. At first I thought there was just one picture in your post, and then I realised there were two. The other one is a perfect picture made out of words.